Heritage Senior Research Fellow Robert Rector will present findings on the state of child poverty in Georgia and the profound role that marriage can play in decreasing the state’s poverty rate.As across the rest of the country, the marital status of a mom and dad in Georgia can have a tremendous impact on the probability that a child will experience poverty.

The Atlanta event also will serve to launch Georgia Family Council’s “Breakthrough Georgia” project – a major, research-driven initiative to identify the best public policies for overcoming social breakdown and promoting human flourishing. The institutions of civil society – among them families, churches civic organizations — are considered instrumental in addressing social breakdown.

“Breakthrough Georgia,” GFC President Randy Hicks says, “seeks to craft a holistic approach to public policy that recognizes both the power and duty of these institutions and maximizes their ability to respond to need, with appropriate help from government when necessary.”

Restoring a culture of marriage and addressing social breakdown in Georgia will take the enthusiastic support of churches, civic groups and other non-profits. Jennifer Marshall, Heritage’s director of domestic policy studies, will moderate a panel that brings real-world experience in the public and private sectors in confronting the root causes of poverty and encouraging greater self-sufficiency and less dependence on government.

Panelists include Jerry Regier,chief operating officer of Calvin Edwards & Co. and former cabinet secretary to two governors; Tony Johns, director of community involvement at City of Refuge, a ministry addressing inner-city poverty; and Cheryl DeLuca Johnson, executive director of Street GRACE, a faith-based nonprofit combating human sex trafficking.

A “breakthrough” will take years, not weeks or months. Now, though, it’s time to encourage what could be GFC’s model efforts to weaken the grip of poverty and dependence by strengthening families.

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Sarah Torre focuses on policy issues related to life, religious liberty, and family as a visiting fellow in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. Read her research

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government handouts to the magnitude it's become, destroys all initiative to even think for oneself let alone be self reliant. The foundation of marriage is much stronger for the upbringing of children than having to involve yourself and child to fight for child support and/or apply to receive government's false sense of dependency.
No one should feel comfort depending on government!!!

Thank you Heritage Foundation and Robert Rector for the excellent research on Fathers:"America's Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty". We are grateful the information. This Fall PROLIFE Across AMERICA, an educational non-political, non-profit, will launch thousands of Billboards in as many areas as our budget allows with a Focus on Fathers!
Fathers are the "missing equation" so often neglected or forgotten regarding issues of pregnancy and abortion. We appreciate your valuable research. God bless you – Pray for our Media Mission! Mary Ann Kuharski, Director, PROLIFE Across AMERICA

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